Abstract
The increasing stringency of world food markets requires farmers to adjust farm structure and commercial strategies to remain integrated in export supply chains. The goal of this study was to identify and characterize different types of fresh fruit farms with regard to farm structural and commercial strategies for a representative sample of fresh fruit growers from central-south Chile exporting to world markets. A typology of farms was constructed based on multivariate analysis, according to which five types of farms were differentiated from five distinct factors. Cluster I comprised the smallest and uncertified farms (14.3% of the sample). The remaining four clusters comprised certified farms, but with different farm structural and commercial characteristics. Cluster II (15.1%) was composed of farms located further from market connections. Cluster III (23.9%) comprised farms with the highest number of fruit species, and consequently, more diversified in fruit production. Cluster IV (8.8%) was the smallest group, and comprised the largest firms. Finally, Cluster V (37.8%) was composed of highly specialized fruit farms, with the highest proportion of hectares dedicated to the production of a single fruit species. The results show the heterogeneity among fresh fruit farms and support the need for differentiated incentives and technological transfer schemes from the public sector and fruit companies in order to successfully keep farmers within export supply chains.
Highlights
Economic and trade liberalization in the last two decades has expanded global trade and led to the rapid growth of retail food chains from the northern hemisphere in the global south (Amekawa, 2009)
The results show the heterogeneity among fresh fruit farms and support the need for differentiated incentives and technological transfer schemes from the public sector and fruit companies in order to successfully keep farmers within export supply chains
The 13 variables used in the factor analysis were: age of the farm owner (Age), Exp, Hfarm, Nfsp, Hfs, income from the main fruit species (Incms), distance to the nearest main city (Dcity), Droad, distance to the nearest export firm (Dexpf), certified fruit species (Cerfs), Hcer, number of certifications of the farm (Ncer) and years elapsed since the first certification (Ycer)
Summary
Economic and trade liberalization in the last two decades has expanded global trade and led to the rapid growth of retail food chains from the northern hemisphere in the global south (Amekawa, 2009). The literature has highlighted the factors that make it difficult for smallholder farmers to comply with such regulations, which include the high costs of compliance, the lack of technical capacity and knowledge, and sometimes the requirements that are difficult to implement within the local context. Within this literature, studies have focused on the structure of the Abbreviations used: GAP (good agricultural practices); PCA (principal component analysis); SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary standards)
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